Subject: Re: bug#54220: [PATCH] doc: Add "Using TeX and LaTeX" chapter.

From: Ludovic Courtès <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2022 12:40:25 +0100

Hi!

Ricardo Wurmus <[email-masked]> skribis:

> Ludovic Courtès <[email-masked]> writes:

[...]

>> It’s a top-level chapter, because I couldn’t find any better place, but
>> I think it’s fine.
>
> Hmm, maybe in (possibly renamed) “Application Setup”?

“Application Setup” is about configuration on a foreign distro, so I
don’t think it’s the right place.

Perhaps we need a more general chapter on using things under Guix, where
we could also have (say) a “Working with Python” section, and perhaps we
could move “Installing Debugging Files” there?  I thought I’d leave that
for later.

>> +@cindex @TeX{} packages
>> +@cindex @LaTeX{} packages
>> +Guix provides packages for the @TeX{} and @LaTeX{} typesetting systems,
>> +taken from the @uref{https://www.tug.org/texlive/, @TeX{} Live
>> +distribution}.  However, because @TeX{} Live is so huge and because
>> +finding your way in this maze is tricky, we thought that you, dear user,
>> +would welcome guidance on how to deploy the relevant packages so you can
>> +compile your @TeX{} and @LaTeX{} documents.
>
> Why single out TeX in particular?

You mean LaTeX, right?

> TeX Live also includes ConTeXt, Xe(La)TeX, Lua(La)TeX etc.  I guess
> LaTeX is the most widely known and TeX is the common basis of them
> all, so maybe that’s good enough a reason.

Yeah, I think to most people it’s all the same :-) and LaTeX is by far
the most famous one.

Maybe we could phrase it differently, like “Using TeX, LaTeX, and
Related Tools”?

>> +the features you need---@code{texlive-latex-listings} for the
>> +@code{listings} package, @code{texlive-hyperref} for @code{hyperref},
>> +@code{texlive-beamer} for Beamer, @code{texlive-latex-pgf} for PGF/TikZ,
>
> I’d very much like to avoid giving the old names visibility.
> “texlive-latex-listings” is old as is “texlive-latex-pgf”.  It really
> should be “texlive-listings” and “texlive-pgf”.

[...]

Yeah, I can rename at least these two packages in a first patch (I will
have to check the number of rebuilds) and adjust the text to refer to
the new names.

>> +@xref{Invoking guix package, @option{--manifest}}, for more on
>> +manifests.  In the future, we plan to provide packages for @TeX{} Live
>> +@dfn{collections}---``meta-packages'' such as @code{fontsrecommended},
>> +@code{humanities}, or @code{langarabic} that provide the set of packages
>> +needed in this particular domain.  That will allow you to list fewer
>> +packages.
>
> Working on it!

Yay!

> Perfect!

Thanks, I’m glad it makes sense!

Ludo’.